[sunshineband]

We've done the low oven trick if its a cool or grey day in the summer. There's usually somewhere warm enough though with the sunshine or even near the fire if necessary and we actually never use the hall cupboard. 

Ours goes on the lid of one of the fish tanks in the winter 

[8doubles]

We bought a Morphy Richards fastbake from a local charity shop just to use just for mixing dough but it does such a good job we let it do the baking.
We never use it on timer as a 10 min warm premix of the yeast /sugar/water gives a better result.
IMHO the best breadmaker is one that cost me a £10`er.

[DD.]

I never bake the bread in the machine, I throw it into the mini tins or a large loaf tin. Comes out twice the size & much lighter.

[Kleftiwallah]

Thanks to all contributors ! ! !   

For the first time I tried the 'dough' button on my/our breadmaker, hoict out the dough and put it in a loaf tin, after rising a bit more chucked it inthe oven.  Best bread ever and no silly little hole in the base.  Thanks once again.  Now, how to make that foccatta stuff with olives ! ! !    Cheers,   Tony.

[mumofstig]

Thats really easy Tony, cos it doesn't have to rise as much 

[arugula]

I'd probably adapt my pizza dough recipe if I was going to make that.  

[madcat]

I had a dirt cheap Tesco one for 5 years that baked a loaf overnight pretty much every other night and often a cake/teabread in the day.  When it died in the end (the seal on the bottom of the the pan gave way) I replaced it with a Morphy Richards fastbake  (envy your tenner 8doubles!) - the one where the paddle drops flat.  It works hard, making good loaves for sandwiches (not too heavy or too fragile) and teabreads.  It makes a mean malt loaf, infinitely better than Soreens!!     Dont like the fast bake loaves - too sunblest  , I use the standard bake which takes about 3hrs for the full cycle.  My loaf tins havent been out of the cupboard for errr ..... a long time!  

I use the dough setting for rolls and baps and pizza bases mostly, and if it could physically do them I'm sure I would just press the button.   

It does take a bit of concentration to get a feel for the right balance of liquid/flour/yeast for your machine.  They are all different and the ambient temperature does make a difference (our kitchen can get cold).  But it is so much less hassle, and cheaper too, than remembering to collect bread on the way home, and takes so much less of my time (bearing in mind I'm not around/awake to wait for it to rise sometime / maybe) and the bread tastes of something!  Ten mins to fill it up before bed, out onto the cooling rack in the morning and it is ready for the buttie making round at tea time.  And repeat. 

Good flour also helps - half Lidls strong white / half Shipstons cotswold crunch is our day to day balance, flavour without too much extra cost.

[DD.]

I've posted this before, but make no apology.

This is a loaf cooked from dough made in the breadmaker and then baked in the oven.
I've put it back in the breadmaker pan for comparison.

The laws of physics state that it must be lighter texture than if made in the machine!

[lizt]

hi everyone, my first post so be gentle with me. ha ha
i have a cheap tesco bread maker i use it for making bread (from start to finish) and the other week i made jam in it too. i like to be able to stuff all the ingredients in, turn on, sit back and watch. : )
lizzy

[operabunny]

Almost the same as 8doubles - Morphy Richards fastbake - £15 (inc postage) on fleabay.

Fabulous machine and the fold down paddles means you don't get the hole all the way through the loaf!

I agree that the fastbake setting is not the best for ordinary wheat bread (good for 'emergencies' though). It is quite good for spelt. Since I got very ill last year and was diagnosed with a severe wheat intolerance I have discovered that the fastbake setting is PERFECT for gluten free loaves made with Dove's Farm mix. It has been a complete lifesaver.    I do like to cook these in the machine as gluten free bread dough seems to need to be quite wet and sloppy. It is only good fresh on the day it is baked, so I slice the whole loaf in one go and freeze any I don't use. About a million times better than any of the shop bought GF bread products (and I have tried them all  )

[boosmummy]

 I have just a tescos own one, it was cheap enough but we use it everyday - we generally dont buy bread

[stompy]

Not sure which model we have but i don't rate the bread from it.

It's been on top of the kitchen cupboards unused for around 6 months now.

I find it makes very dense bread loafs so stopped useing it.

Is there any way to make the loafs lighter as if not it'll be going to the next car boot sale?

[joyfull]

do like DD does (and I used to until mine broke) and just use it to mix the dough and do the first bit of proving, then take the dough out and continue like you would do normally. You get far bigger and lighter bread 

[8doubles]

One that works well for me,

1 cup warm water  (not hot or it kills the yeast)
2 tablespoons white sugar
.25 oz packet of fastbake yeast

 stir then leave for 10 minutes to start working then into the oiled breadmaker tin followed by
 
1/4 cup of veg oil
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt

cook on basic loaf.

Not any good if you wish to bake on timer but it does give a lighter loaf even with wholemeal flour.

[DD.]

I still maintain that the only way to bake a lighter loaf, is to bake it outside the breadmaker. Elementary school physics, something to do with weight and volume ratios, called density!